Wheel shelling and squats of rail are the loss of large pieces of metal from wheel treads and rail head as a result of wheel-rail rolling contact fatigue. This kind of crack develops easily inside them when water exists. If the rate of growth of these cracks can be calculated accurately, appropriate action will be taken to maintain the integrity of wheel and rail, and save considerable amounts of cost. So fatigue tests are performed to obtain the fatigue crack growth rate and establish a criterion for the branching under the mixed mode I and II loading cycles which can simulate rolling contact conditions by an in-plane biaxial fatigue machine using wheel and rail steels.

Copyright (c) 2001 Railway Technical Research Institute